


(Not) According to Plan

by Hurjasuentassu



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, DadSchlatt, Fluff, Healthy Relationships, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:00:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29069193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hurjasuentassu/pseuds/Hurjasuentassu
Summary: Quackity doesn't work the afternoons. Maybe he should.Or, Dadschlatt is stuck in a meeting and Quackity has to stay at work late with Tubbo.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Alexis | Quackity/Jschlatt, Jschlatt & Toby Smith | Tubbo
Comments: 27
Kudos: 540





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WHAT IS UP SCHLACKITY NATION!?!
> 
> Okay, don't actually get that hyped. It's my first work here and English isn't my first language so please point out any mistakes.
> 
> Also, this is just for fun and not meant for the cc's or anything.
> 
> Enjoy, maybe?

It had been a pretty good day so far. It was only one in the afternoon, but today Quackity had woken up to his first alarm at 6 AM, not feeling tired at all, and had made it to work with some time to spare before the kids started to arrive. The morning had passed without incident, a rare occurrence with their rowdy bunch of kids. Quackity had most of the playing various board games with Purpled, the five-year-old seeming to be a bit down and unwilling to play with his usual group of friends.

Quackity’s good day was, however, about to start going differently than he had anticipated. While the kids were having their afternoon nap, Karl, his co-worker at the day care, approached him, a pleading look on his face.

“Hey, Q, could you maybe stay the afternoon today? I know it’s my shift and all, and I’m really sorry to be asking this late, but, uh… something came up”, he said, face flushing. “The kids are always picked up before five. It’ll just be a couple hours longer. Please?”

Quackity didn’t really want to. He never worked the late afternoons, preferring to get home early and have a free evening, most days hanging alone at his apartment and playing video games. He liked the routine and was a morning person, anyway.

“Can’t you ask Niki?” He groaned. Niki was the owner of the day care, and the sweetest creature on Earth. She was usually the one to fill in for Karl and Quackity’s absences, and the children adored her. It was a shame some of her time went into paperwork. They were a small day care with only three workers and about a dozen children, so there really wasn’t anyone else to ask.

“She said she had to go to the dentist”, Karl hung his head.

Quackity sighed. He supposed he didn’t have anything better to do. Besides, they can’t exactly leave the kids on their own either. “Fine. You owe me, big time.”

“You’re a literal life saver”, Karl said, his body slumping in his seat in relief.

-

And that’s how Quackity ended up here, at 4:50, waving off Tommy and his dad with Tubbo, Tommy’s best friend. He was the last one left on the playground, the scene unusually quiet. The sun was starting to set and Quackity was getting a bit chilly, having been outside for an hour and a half.

“Are you often the last one to be picked up?” Quackity asked Tubbo, crouching down to talk to him.

Tubbo glanced at his face before looking away. “No.”

It was barely a whisper and sounded almost scared. It threw Quackity off, him used to seeing the little five-year-old yelling and grinning like a maniac when he was with Tommy. Quackity also didn’t exactly know whether to be worried or not. Did parents often pick their kids up at varying times?

“Did your parents mention anything about picking you up later today?” he asked gently, trying to catch the boy’s eyes.

“No”, Tubbo said. He looked like he was about to cry.

“Well, I suppose we’ll just have to wait for them, then. I’m sure they’ll show up soon. Wanna go sit on the bench?” Quackity asked, trying to hide his rising worry in a grin and an energetic tone. He didn’t want Tubbo to start crying. He didn’t wait for an answer, instead grabbing Tubbo’s tiny hand and leading him to the wooden seat. Tubbo started swinging his legs back and forth, still holding on to Quackity’s hand and looking at the pebbles on the ground.

At this point, it was ten past five and he was supposed to be cleaning and locking up. The cold was also seeping through his thin jacket. Quackity was starting to panic. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Karl had said that this wouldn’t happen! He decided to text Karl.

_Karl help_

_Tubbo hasn’t been picked up_

_this is all your fault_

_what do I do_

There was no answer. It was cold. And dark.

“Are you cold?” he asked Tubbo. The kid looked up at him in confusion. “’Cause I am. Do you wanna go inside until your dad gets here?” His brain had supplied him with the fact that Tubbo only had a single dad.

At Tubbo’s nod, Quackity led them back in the door, helping Tubbo take off his outdoor clothes. Tubbo’s hair was a mess from being under a warm hat in the damp air, so Quackity gently ran a hand through the soft, brown locks.

“I should tidy up here. Would you like to read a book while I do that?” He might as well at least get ready to leave, right?

Tubbo nodded at the suggestion and sat down on a sofa with the book he had picked out.

Quackity couldn’t help but smile when he heard a little voice slowly mumbling the words Tubbo was reading.

When Quackity was done with clean-up, the time was 5:30. Karl hadn’t answered his texts. He’d tried Niki, too, but he hadn’t gotten a response from her either. He had even tried to ask Tubbo for his dad’s number, but he didn’t remember it. Quackity was sure they had it on file somewhere, but he didn’t really know where to look. Tubbo’s dad would have to arrive soon anyway, right?

Quackity sat down next to Tubbo on the sofa. The boy laid the book in his lap, turning to look at Quackity with his big blue eyes.

“Could you read to me? The words keep going all over and my head hurts but the story is so interesting. Please?”

Who could say no?

And so, after Tubbo pointed out the part he had been on, Quackity started reading in a soft voice. The boy leaned on him heavily, the weight comfortable and warm. While the story progressed, however, Quackity noticed the boy’s eyelids growing heavier. 6 pm might not have been the best time for a nap, but he decided to let Tubbo sleep until his dad came to pick him up.

Tubbo didn’t get to sleep for long before a young man in a suit, most likely not much older than Quackity himself, showed up at the door with a distressed expression on his face. Quackity remembered seeing him in the mornings, but you couldn’t really chat with the parents much in their rush to work. The man’s eyes met his before Quackity gently nudged Tubbo awake.

As soon as he was awake, the boy’s face lit up and he let out a happy “Daddy!”. Quackity followed him to the door to let Tubbo’s dad in.

The first thing the man did was take his son in his arms, cooing at him and calling him “his bumblebee”. He looked down at Tubbo and kissed the top of his head, holding him tightly in his arms and whispering apologies. It was kind of sweet, even though Quackity’s mind was reeling from his pent-up worries suddenly dissipating. Then the man turned to Quackity.

“Oh my god, I am so, so sorry for this! My secretary, he had booked me a meeting this afternoon with a very important client and it just dragged on and on and they wouldn’t let me come get him, and now you had to stay late because of me, I’m so sorry! Please let me make it up to you.”

Quackity found himself responding almost instinctually “No! No! No, it’s alright, really, Tubbo’s a real sweetheart and nice to hang around. This might’ve actually done me some good, it’s not like I had anything other planned.” He gave a shrug and a crooked smile at the end.

Tubbo was hiding his face in his father’s neck in embarrassment at the compliments. The man glanced down at his son and his hand started rubbing Tubbo’s back gently before he turned back to Quackity. “Are you sure? There’s got to be something I can do to repay you, uh… Quackity.”

To be quite honest, Quackity was surprised Tubbo’s dad knew his name. They hadn’t really talked before, and Quackity for one couldn’t say the same about the man. He smiled awkwardly up at him. “It’s fine, honestly, you don’t owe me anything. Uh, I don’t think I’ve ever caught your name…?”

“It’s Schlatt. And I’m afraid I must insist, let me buy you dinner or something.”

“Oh, Tubbo hasn’t eaten anything since his afternoon snack. You should really get going, I’m sure he’s getting hungry.” Quackity wasn’t sure why he was so insistent on not needing anything in return for his trouble. A mere few hours ago he would have been scandalised at even the thought of staying there past the official hours without compensation, but somehow it felt so wrong to ask anything of Schlatt. Quackity had enjoyed his afternoon with Tubbo, after all. He just wanted the pair to go home and relax. Frankly, that was all he wanted for himself as well.

Schlatt’s eyebrows furrowed at Quackity’s statement. “Did you drive to work this morning? I didn’t see a car, and it’s cold outside. Let me at least give you a ride home and we can get McDonald’s or something on the way. I’m sure you don’t want to start cooking this late.”

Quackity sighed. He didn’t have a car or food at home. It was a tempting offer and it seemed that Schlatt really wasn’t going to let it go. Even Tubbo had perked up at the mention of fast food and was now looking at him hopefully. He looked Schlatt in his friendly, dark brown eyes and sighed again, relenting.

“Alright. Thanks.”

They redressed Tubbo in his outside clothes and Quackity grabbed his coat, turned off the lights and locked the door behind them. The air had indeed grown even chillier after the sun had set, their breaths coming out as clouds as the moisture in them condensed. Quackity was glad he wouldn’t have to freeze waiting at the bus stop for who knows how long.

Quackity was led to a shiny black car that was parked on the side of the road. Schlatt opened the passenger door for him, motioning to get in. Quackity blushed a little bit at the gentlemanlike gesture while Schlatt hoisted Tubbo into his car seat in the back.

“So, what do you wanna eat? My treat, I don’t mind anything.”

Quackity would have argued about paying for himself, but he had a feeling it would be in vain. “Just hamburgers or something. There’s a Burger King a few blocks away from my apartment. It’s usually not very crowded.”

That’s where they ended up, wordlessly eating hamburgers in the car in the mostly empty parking lot of Quackity’s local burger joint. It felt almost domestic to Quackity, turning to his left and seeing Schlatt with a bit of mayonnaise in his moustache and hearing Tubbo munching on his French fries in the back. Maybe it was the exhaustion that was setting in, but he was feeling happy and content.

After finishing his burger, he leaned back in his seat with a smile on his face. He let his eyes wander to Schlatt only to find his solid gaze already on himself. Quackity quickly averted his eyes. “Thanks for the burger”, he said a little bit too quickly.

Schlatt chuckled. “Seriously, no need to thank me. You’re the one who worked extra for over an hour because of my scheduling mistake.”

“Why do we keep talking about this again?” They both huffed in amusement, and a relatively comfortable silence fell once again.

The short ride to Quackity’s place was mostly spent in that silence, with a sleepy Tubbo mumbling something about Tommy and being president. At Schlatt’s puzzled glance, Quackity only shrugged minutely. It was probably one of their playground games.

They soon arrived at Quackity’s building. He felt a bit reluctant to leave the car, having enjoyed the almost-familial atmosphere. In the building awaited only his dark and empty apartment.

“Hey, can I get your number?” Schlatt broke the silence. “Y’know, in case this happens again. So I can call you. Ahead of time, I mean. You know?” His grin was a bit too wide and he fiddled with his hands.

“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t usually work the afternoons. Maybe you’d like Karl’s instead?” Quackity questioned, pulling out his phone. He was a bit thrown off by the sudden change in Schlatt’s behaviour. This whole being-late thing hadn’t happened before. Did this mean Schlatt thought it would start happening more or something? If so, he should really take it up with Niki -

Schlatt clasped his hands together and turned to look at Quackity in earnest, seemingly making up his mind and cutting Quackity’s thoughts off. “No, I would like _your_ number. Please.”

_Oh._ Quackity’s stomach did a little flip and he was sure his face flushed. There was no denying it, there was an implication in Schlatt’s tone. After a few seconds he managed to get his mouth moving. “Okay. Maybe you should give me yours too, just in case?” He smiled and offered his phone. Schlatt beamed at that, and they typed their phone numbers in each other’s phones. Quackity had to admit, the guy was kind of cute and really nice. And Quackity already knew his kid, too.

Speaking of, Tubbo seemed completely oblivious to everything that was happening in front of him. His head was leaning on the backrest of his car seat, and his eyes were drooping. Quackity couldn’t help the smile that was on his face as he glanced between them. “You should probably get going. Thanks again.”

Schlatt looked at him disapprovingly, but let the unnecessary thanking go in favour of bidding Quackity a good rest of the night and telling him that he’d see him tomorrow. They shared a smile and Quackity got out of the car after whispering a good night to Tubbo as well.

After the car had left his sight, he finally turned on his heel and walked up to his apartment. It was dark and quiet inside. His phone felt heavy with the newly inputted number, but he wouldn’t dream of texting Schlatt immediately. That would just come off as desperate. Instead, he binge-watched Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic before opting for a relatively early night.

He went to bed, imagining strong arms wrapped securely around his middle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I might continue this at some point if people like it or something although I do feel it's a bit rushed.
> 
> I would really appreciate any criticism and/or comments and kudos.
> 
> Take care! <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the comments, they really made me so unbelievably happy and inspired me to continue!
> 
> I'm sorry for the long wait, I'm the world's slowest writer :/. I hope this isn't totally disappointing :)

The next morning, Quackity woke up to his blaring alarm with a groan. He pressed the snooze button. He may have technically gotten enough sleep already but waking up and getting ready for work didn’t sound appealing at all.

The events of the night before suddenly came rushing back into Quackity’s mind. He barely knew Schlatt at all, but he had a feeling that they would be seeing each other again, outside of the kindergarten. Quackity hurried to check his phone.

He was a bit disappointed to notice that he had received no messages from Schlatt. Oh well, he supposed he’d be seeing the man in a couple of hours anyway. Karl, on the other hand, had responded to Quackity’s cry for help from the last afternoon. At 1 AM. Thanks for nothing.

_omg what happend_

_youre supposed to call the parents and jsut wait i guess_

_soryr for not respondin_

Quackity sighed. He would tell Karl about last night at work, the man was probably sleeping right now, anyway. Quackity’s five-minute snooze started ringing and he decided to get up after turning it off. He changed, brushed his teeth, had breakfast and was out the door and at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare before his bus got there.

The chill from the previous night hadn’t dissipated, and Quackity was feeling cold in his warmest (not very warm) coat and beanie. He rocked on the balls of his feet, hiding his gloveless hands in his pockets, hoping the bus would arrive soon.

It did, the bright headlights almost blinding Quackity in the darkness of the morning-deserted street. The bus was mostly empty, as per usual at 6:40 AM, and blissfully warm. Quackity sat down next to a window and grabbed his phone. He checked his messages again (nothing) and scrolled mindlessly through Instagram and Twitter to pass the time.

He arrived at the day care at seven, with about ten minutes to spare before the kids would start arriving. He put his things in the back room, turned on the lights and waited. After a few minutes he was bustling with nervous energy, unable to keep himself still at the thought of seeing Schlatt again very soon.

Astelic was the first to be dropped off, her mom and Quackity exchanging brief “good morning”s before she hurried out the door. Next was Tommy, the kid seeming loud and energetic as ever. After Phil’s departure with a soft “bye, mate”, however, Tommy’s expression changed, his eyebrows furrowing and mouth twisting to a frown as he went to Quackity.

“What happened with Tubbo? He’s never the last to get picked up. Did his daddy get him okay?”

Quackity hadn’t expected this genuine worry from the usually brash boy. Despite his surprise, the sweetness of the boy’s concern made Quackity’s tired and cold heart feel a bit soft. Out of the corner of his eye he could also see Astelic looking puzzled at Tommy’s changed demeanour.

“He’s alright, his dad was just a bit late”, he said, a small smile rising to his face.

Tommy smiled too, relieved. He let out a loud “Phew.”

More kids and parents started filing in after that. Quackity’s mind was on Schlatt, and he couldn’t bring himself to say more than a few greetings, although he was glad to see Purpled, who had seemed down on the day before, run off with Astelic and David, smiling and laughing. Most of the kids had shown up by that point, the time nearing 7:45.

The door opened once more, and there he finally was. Schlatt, in all his glory, was standing at the door with his left hand in Tubbo’s right. Quackity’s vision tunnelled, and all he could see was the man, in a similar scene to the one from the night before. He was even wearing similar clothes to the ones on the day before, though his suit was dark blue today, instead of black.

“Hi”, Quackity said, breathless. Their eyes met, and they held eye contact for what seemed like several seconds.

Tommy ran into the lobby, talking to Tubbo loudly. Quackity was momentarily shaken out of his stupor by the commotion. Tubbo let go of his father’s hand before saying his goodbyes and greeting Quackity and ran off to play with Tommy. Quackity instantly felt awkward.

“Hey, Quackity”, Schlatt smiled. “Thanks for yesterday. I know you didn’t really have a choice in staying overtime, but still. Thanks.”

“It’s just basic human decency, it’s fine, really. And you already returned the favour. You don’t owe me anything”, Quackity said, looking at the plastic mat on the floor. The last words came out a bit harsher than he had meant them to. He felt the urge to apologise, run, or start fiddling with something. He kept his eyes on the floor.

“Well, I’d better get going to work now. See you.”

Schlatt left before Quackity could try and ease the tension his nervous mouth had created between them. He contemplated texting him. He decided to let it wait until his break, right now having the responsibility of looking after and entertaining eleven rambunctious kids. Karl would show up in a couple of hours, but for now he was alone.

Most of the kids, as usual in the mornings, entertained themselves in a relatively calm manner. A few were playing board games and others had claimed the back corner of the main room to play house. Poor Puffy had ended up as the mom again. Quackity considered offering to be the mom to let the small girl take part in the rest of the kids’ (actually, most of them seemed to be pretending to be various farm animals, but they had insisted that it was a house when asked about it) shenanigans instead of constantly having to give everyone plastic fruits in cups to “eat”.

Quackity’s plan, however, was interrupted by Tommy, Tubbo and Ranboo bolting past him and trying to climb onto chairs to stand on them, apparently to give a speech about something. Quackity managed to talk them out of standing on the chairs by telling them they could fall and hurt themselves. Tommy decided that his speech, which lasted for all of one minute and seemed to be about his big brother’s girlfriend (what even), could be given from the floor instead. The boys seemed satisfied and ran off to resume their game.

Tubbo, however, stayed behind and looked at Quackity with his blue eyes brimming with tears and his lower lip wobbling. Quackity was instantly worried, wondering if the boy had hurt himself. He crouched down to the boy’s level to talk to him.

“Hey, hey, Tubbo, are you alright?”

“I’m sorry Quackity. We shoulda asked you, but now we made you worry! You’re always so nice and we should be nice to you too. ‘Specially yesterday, you stayed with me and my daddy and it was so nice. ‘M sorry.” His voice grew quieter and he looked down.

Quackity swore he could feel his heart melt into a puddle in his chest. He sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of Tubbo and smiled at him softly. “Hey.” The boy met his eyes again. “It’s alright. Nothing happened, and you guys didn’t know. Just don’t do it again, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Tubbo said decisively. After a second’s pause, he climbed into Quackity’s lap, hiding his face in the man’s chest. Quackity rubbed his back like he’d seen Schlatt do the previous day, Tubbo relaxing into him.

“I thought that yesterday evening was nice too”, he whispered.

Quackity had to turn most of his attention back to the other kids, but he stayed in his spot on the floor. Tubbo didn’t seem to want to go back to playing with Tommy and Ranboo despite them coming over to ask him to after a while. They looked at each other and left him be.

It was almost quiet enough to miss, but after a few minutes he heard Tubbo mumbling. “My daddy likes you”, he said.

Quackity’s eyes widened and he was sure his face was burning red. “Really?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Did he say that?” he asked, unable to stop his curiosity.

“No, but I can tell”, Tubbo said, his voice light.

Strangely enough, Quackity was inclined to trust the judgment of this five-year-old. That might not have been very wise of him, but children often had pretty good emotional intelligence, right? He thought he’d heard something like that somewhere. Schlatt had seemed happy enough to see him in the morning. Maybe Quackity wasn’t in a fever dream or going mad. Maybe.

After a minor incident with Puffy throwing all the plastic fruit and plates on the floor, Karl finally showed up. Tubbo was still sitting with Quackity on the floor, to which Karl raised an eyebrow and smiled. He then proceeded to call everyone’s attention to himself, telling the kids to pair up since it was time to go on a stroll to the park and around the neighbourhood. There were some excited cries before the kids bounded off to the bathroom and lobby to get ready.

The trip went by quite smoothly. Karl kept glancing at Quackity, clearly eager to talk about the previous day’s events. Quackity tried to wordlessly broadcast a “we’ll talk on our break”, but he wasn’t sure if it was working, since Karl’s glances seemed to be getting more and more frequent, eyebrow raises accompanying them. Quackity felt his face flush but figured he could probably pass it off as the cold hitting his face if need be.

At one point Purpled and David pushed Astelic off the jungle gym at the park, providing a much-needed distraction from Karl’s constant curious looks. Quackity gave the two boys a bit of a talking to while Karl checked Astelic for injuries. Apparently, her thick winter clothes had saved her from getting even a scratch, although she was crying, presumably from the shock. When they left pretty soon after, Karl carried her on the way back to the day care.

When they got back, it was time for lunch. After that it was naptime, which meant Quackity and Karl’s break.

Immediately when the door of the staff room had been shut, Karl was bombarding him with apologies and questions about what had happened.

Quackity had been expecting the questioning. He didn’t want to go into detail, so he tried to get off the hook by saying “Well, Tubbo was pretty chill without Tommy around and Schlatt arrived at, like, six. He was really sorry, and he drove me home and he got me some Burger King.” and shrugging.

“And…?” Karl was beckoning him to tell him in greater detail, unsatisfied with the abridged story and sensing there was something his friend was purposely not saying.

“Nothing!” Quackity said indignantly.

“Are you sure?”

Quackity felt his cheeks flush. He looked down at his teacup. “Yeah, I’m sure”, he muttered, not even sounding sure in his own ears.

“Something definitely did. Do you, like, have a thing for him or something” Karl had drawn the conclusion immediately, and Quackity wondered if he really was that easy to read.

Something about his face must have given it away because Karl continued almost immediately: “Oh my God, you do! You’re into Schlatt!” He was on the verge of squealing. Karl paused for a moment. “I mean, I guess he’s not the worst-looking, and he’s pretty nice from what I can tell. Single, too. Just not my type. Is he into you too?”

“How would I know? He drove me home and asked for my number, but I barely know him. Maybe he was just being nice. He hasn’t texted me, either.” Quackity looked down at the break room table. He tried to not get his hopes up too high with the fear of having them crushed. Tubbo’s words from the morning were also spinning in his head. _My Daddy likes you._ Quackity didn’t want to think or talk about it, so he steered the conversation to other topics for the rest of the break. After a couple of unanswered questions, Karl let him.

The rest of the day went by quickly, Quackity leaving at 2:30 PM like he was supposed to. He was slightly tempted to stay late and see Schlatt again but decided it would definitely be weird and creepy.

On the bus ride home Quackity remembered that he’d forgotten to text Schlatt on his break. Surely it wouldn’t be weird or desperate to text him now. He’d had the phone number for almost a full day at this point.

_Hey_

_Sorry if I came off a bit rude in the morning_

_I guess I was just nervous_

After sending the last message he immediately regretted it. He’d started their conversation with a triple text. That’s so weird and desperate! What was wrong with him? Well, there was no taking it back now. His texts didn’t even really prompt a response, what if Schlatt just left him on read? He had every right to, too! Quackity tapped his fingers on his thigh, trying to think of something other to do.

Only a few minutes passed before his phone lit up with a message.

_It’s totally fine. It was nice to see you._

Then, before he could even think to react, another.

_Would you want to do something on Saturday? Tubbo has a playdate in the afternoon._

Quackity’s heart started beating wildly in his chest, and he hurried to respond.

_Thank god_

_I’d love to see you Saturday, maybe we could meet at the park at like 3pm and then go from there or something_

He put the phone on his lap, looking out at the moving scenery of the city. Soon, his phone pinged again.

_It’s a date_

A smile rose to his face.

_Yeah_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading again!
> 
> Sorry for not much Schlackity this chapter, I'll try to write a third chapter and the date :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I might continue this at some point if people like it or something although I do feel it's a bit rushed.
> 
> I would really appreciate any criticism and/or comments and kudos.
> 
> Take care! <3


End file.
